Media Release Courtesy St. Vincent Times — Tuesday, January 4, 2022
Consumers in St. Vincent and the Grenadines are celebrating some of the best prices for vegetables in decades. In a period marked by global food shortages and disruptions in supply chains because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the small island state of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is experiencing an oversupply of vegetables on its local market.
The island’s Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. Saboto Caesar, explained that among the causes are: the volcanic eruptions of La Soufriere which forced many farmers in the Green and Yellow Zones to increase production to compensate for lost production in the Red and Orange Zones; the support provided to farmers during the recovery package with seeds, seedlings, fertilizer, land preparation and income support; and the fact that many international agencies and NGOs supplied vegetable seeds directly to farmers through government-assisted programmes.
“It is the intention of the Ministry of Agriculture to advance the vegetable sub-sector as a part of the national diversification strategy in agriculture,” Caesar said. He encouraged farmers to work closely with marketers to explore exporting vegetables, and committed overall support to farmers in 2022: “We have proven to everyone that we have the expertise to supply; we must now sustain the production needed to meet the demands of local and possibly some regional markets with consistency in quality, quantity and price.”